Front-wheel drive for automobiles.



J. F. MONTINE. EEONT WHEEL DRIVE 'EOE AUTOMOBILES.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR124, 1914. 1,132,861

Patented Mal". 23, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. I'. MONTINE.

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE EOE AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILEDMR. 24, 1914.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. F. MONTINE.

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE POR AUTOMOBILES. APPLIQATION HLED 1111x124,- 1914.

1,132,861 A Patented Mar. 23, 1915.`

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FFIQE.

JOSEPH l1r. MONTINE, or NEVINVILLE, Iowa,

FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Application led March 24, 1914. Serialv N o. 826,914.

' To all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH F. MoN'rINE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Nevinville, in the county of Adams and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in F ront-Wheel Drives' for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification.

' This inventionn'e'lates te front wheel driving mechanism for motor vehicles, the object of the invention being' to provide practical and eiicient means for driving the front steering wheels of a motor car as well as the ordinary rear driving wheels thereof, lat the same, time providing 'for the necessary and ordinary variation in the speed of all ofthe driving wheelsof the machine.

A further object of the invention isvto provide special 'means for housing the several differential gearings hereinafter described and for bracing the differential shaft which is necessarily of considerable length especially in machines having' a long wheel base, thus overcoming vibration andsagging of said long differential shaft.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for tying or holding together the differential housings adjacent to or upon the front and rear axles of themachine while at the same time admitting of the l necessary torsional or twisting action of the frame in actual road work.

With the above and other ob}ects 1n vleW,

lthe invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement ofl parts, as will hereinafter be more fully described, illustrated and claimed.- A

. In `the accompanying drawings :-Figure l is a plan view of the understructure of a motor vehicle, showing the front and rear wheel driving mechanism as contemplated in this invention. Fig. 2 is an enlargedsectional view of the driving mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail vertical section through one of the steering knuckles and the universal joint, showing also a portion of one of the steering wheels. F ig. 4 is a detail horizontal section taken at right angles to Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the housing truss for the differential shaft, showing also portions of the rear and intermediate di'Hei-ential housings. Fig. 6 is a detail vertical cross section on the line 6-6' of Fig. 5.

Referring primarily to Fig-l, A desig- Specifcation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar.v 23, 1915.

nates the rear axle housing, B the front aXle housing, C thevrear` differential housing and D the front differential housing, and it may be stated at this point that the front axle together with its differential gearing is substantially a duplicate of the rear axle and Vits differential gearing, the parts hereinabove described being similar in construction and arrangement to the' corresponding parts now in common use on automobiles. A

In carrying outthe present Ainvention I provide intermediate differential gearing indicated generally at E, the said inter, mediate differential gearing being associated with a differential shaft the housing of which is indicated at F in Fig. l, said housing being of considerable lengthand being adapted to support the differential shaft `which is necessarily quite long, reaching j from the front differential gearing D to the intermediate differential gearing G designates the drive shaft housing, H I

the universal joint Vcasing orboot and I the transmission shaft which extends to and is driven by the engine shaft (not shown).

Referring now to Fig. 2, the drive shaft l which is inclosed in the housing tube G above referred to is connected by a universal joint at 2 to an extension shaft 3 having fast thereon a spur gear wheel 4 which 'meshes directly with another spur gear wheelv' on the outer peripheral face of. the large differential gear 6 contained in the housing E above referred to, the motion ofthe drive shaft being thus transmitted to the differential shaft 7.

The shaft 7 has its front end in driving connection with the differentialgearing D and its rear endin driving engagement With thevrear differential gearing C as clearly shown in Fig. 2 so that thefpower of the engine is first transmitted to the drive shaft l and then to the sections of the differential shaft 7 at each side of the differentialv gearing E and thence through the differential gearings C and D to the rear and front axles, respectively.

The shaft 7 is provided adjacent to the differential gearing C with a fiXed collar S which is received in a recessed enlargement flange 12 which bears in contact with a corresponding bead or flange 13 on the rear extremity of a housing truss which is shown in section in Fig. 2 and in side elevation in Fig. 5 and which will be described in detail.

l Immediately surrounding the shaft 7 is the usual housing tube 14, said tube extending from the rear differential housing 11 to the intermediate differential housing section 15.

rllhe housing truss surrounds the tube 14 and is construct-ed as best illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 wherein it-will be observed that said housing truss is divided along a vertical line extending diametrically of the shaft 7 into similar sections als seen in FigJG, each of said sections embodying a semi-circular or semi-cylindrical body portion 16, opposite webs 17, and laterally extending flanges 18 at the outery edges of the webs 17. When the two sections of the housing truss are brought together in the relation shown in Fig. 6, they are securely tied together by means of the tie-plates 19 arranged at thetop and bottom of the truss andA fastened to the flanges 18 by means of bolts or rivets 20. The webs extend upwardly and downwardly as indicated in Fig. 6 'and also shown vin the side elevation Fig. 5 and in addition to said vertically extending webs, the sections of the housing truss are provided at their rear ends with lateral attaching flanges 21 which are spaced a suitable distance apart to receive between them corresponding flanges or webs 22 extendingl forwardly from the section 15 of the intermediate differential gearing housing. Other vertical flanges or webs 23 on the housing' section 15 are received between the websV 17 as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5 and the parts bolted together as shown at24 and 25 thereby securely fastening the housing truss to the intermediate diderential gearing housing.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the differential gearings C and E as well as the spur gear 4, are inclosed in a common housing embodying triple sections indicated at a, b and c. The sections a and b are divided from each other along'a line extending longitudinally of the machine and defined by anges 26 and 27 bolted together as at 28. The section c is divided from the other two sections along a line extending transversely of the machine fra-me and defined by the flanges 29 and 30 bolted together as at 31. The section a is connected and braced relatively to the rear .axle housing A by means of a uniting web 32 and the section b is likewise connected to the rear axle housing by means of a similar uniting web 33. The section c is also provided with a bracing web 34 which last named web also merges into and braces the fixed member35 of a ball-socket, said socket also embodying a separable or detachable section 36 ,secured to the xed section by bolts 37 or their equivalenti- The socket 35 as shown in Fig. 2 receives a hollow ball joint member 38 formed on the rear end vof the housing Gr for the drive shaft 1.

J, in Fig. 1, represents the side bars of the frame or chassis of the machine.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, the front axle housing B is enlarged at each end to form a knuckle 39 embodying spaced upper and lower members 4() and 41, respectively, the same being provided with the upwardly and downwardly extending pintles 42 and 43. `44 designates the tubular bearing for the hub 45 of one of the steering Wheels 46. At its inner end the bearing 44 is enlarged to form a knuckle 47 comprising the upper and lower members 48 and 49, respectively, and including a detachable section 50 which together with the .members 48 and 49 is flanged as shown at 51 lto receive bolts 52 whereby the secti n 50 is fastened to the knuckle 47. 1n t e meeting Afaces of the members 50 and 48, sockets 53 are formed in which the pintles 42 and 43 are adapted to turn in changing the angle of the steering wheel. The adjacent front axle section 54 is'provided at its outer end with a fork 55 and the wheel driving spindle 56 which passes through the tubular bearing 44 is provided at its inner end with a fork 57. FX- tending around both forks 55 and 57 is a yoke ring 58 carrying a pair of diametrically opposite pivot studs 59 .which are journaled in openings in the fork 57, and another pair of pivot studs 60 are journaled in the arms of the fork 55 as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. This forms a universal joint connection between the shaft section 54 and the wheel driving spindle 56, permitting the members 54 and 56 to be turnedv relatively to each other to effect the steering of the machine while at the same time transmitting the power of the motor to each of the steering wheels.

The outer portion of the knuckle 39 is rounded in semi-circular form as illustrated' in Fig. 4 and a facing plate 61 is securedtosuch rounded end portion vof the knuckle and provided with a slot 62 to allow for the sweep of the spindle 56 as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. rlhis face plate acts to exclude foreign matter from the interior of the knuckle and the working parts of the universal joint. Each knuckle is provided with arms 63 extending either forwardly or rearwardly therefrom as shown in Fig. 1, said arms being coupled together for simultaneous operation by means of a connecting rod 64. One of the knuckles is provided with an additional arm 65 to which is attached a steering connection 66 lcontrolled by the ordinary steering wheel now in common use in automobiles, motor trucks and the like.

.ltwill be apparent that the steering and drlving mcchamsm as SllQWRl applied to the front of the machine Fig. l may also be applied to the` rear of the machine so as to enable the rear wheels to be turned to correspond with the angles assumed by the front Wheels, this being accomplished by merely duplicating the steering knuckle andvvheel driving arrangement hereinabove described and illustrated in detail in Figs. 3 vand 4. What I claim is y l. In front Wheel driving mechanism for motor vehicles, the combination of .a sectional rear axle, `a sectional front axle, rear axle dierential gearing, front axle differential gearing, a sectional fore and aft di'erential shaft connected at opposite ends with the said front and rear axle differential gearing, intermediate differential gearing incorporated i-n-said-diferential shaft and connecting the sections of said shaft, a master spur gear fon said intermediate differential gearing, the intermediate differential gearing beingl located in close proximity to one of the first named differential gearings, a drive shaft parallel to said differential shaft, a spur gear'on said drive shaft meshing with the master gear of the intermediate differential' gearin a sectional housing nclosing both of sai proximal differential gearings and the spur gear on the drive shaft, and a Webbed housing truss extendin from said intermediate to the remaining difg- Y ferential ferential housing and inclosing saidv dierential shaft.

2. In front Wheel driving mechanism for motor vehicles, the combination of a sectional rear axle', a sectional front axle rear axle differential gearing, front axle differential gearing, a sectional `fore and aft differ-A e ential shaft connected at opposite ends with the said front and rear axle differential gearing, intermediate differential gearing incorporated in said' differential shaft and connecting the sections of said shaft, the intermediate differential gearing being located in close proximity to one of the first named a sectional housing indifferential gearings, closing both of said gearings, from said proximal diderential a Webbed housing truss extending intermediate to the'remaining difhousing and inclosing said differential shaft, said housing truss embodying sectionsI which are separable on the diametrical line of said shaft, flanges extending laterally from opposite sides of said truss sections, and tie-plates connecting said flanges.`

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of tvvo witnesses.l

y JOSEPH F. MONTINE. Witnesses:

. GUY HEFLEN, JAMES Komm. 

